Light-Fingered Annie

Not only does Ann Coulter write lousy books, she steals a lot of the content from other people. At least that's what Raw Story has documented.

In an attempt to counter a New York Times article, conservative pundit Ann Coulter appears to have inserted a list that was originally compiled by an anti-abortion group almost word-for-word into her new book, RAW STORY has found.

The seventh chapter of Godless: The Church of Liberalism is devoted to "the left's war on science," which - according to Coulter - includes lying about "the science that is working" so as "to elevate the science that has produced nothing."

"In the August 24, 2004, New York Times, science writer Gina Kolata claimed that no one had succeeded in using adult stem cells 'to treat diseases,'" writes Coulter.

To prove the Times science writer wrong, Coulter then provides a "short list" of sixteen "successful treatments achieved by adult stem cell research."

But fifteen of Coulter's examples (listed at the end of this story) are nearly identical to items in a longer list of seventeen compiled by the Illinois Right To Life website, that has been available since at least September of 2003.

This isn't the only incident of Ms. Coulter being accused of literary thievery.

Last week, a blogger known as The Rude Pundit accused Coulter of "possible plagiarism" after identifying lines from the first chapter of Coulter's book that were "strangely similiar" to sources not cited in the endnotes.

In one example, Coulter wrote: "The massive Dickey-Lincoln Dam, a $227 million hydroelectric project proposed on upper St. John River in Maine, was halted by the discovery of the Furbish lousewort, a plant previously believed to be extinct."

"Here's the Portland Press Herald, from the year 2000, in its list of the 'Maine Stories of the Century': 'The massive Dickey-Lincoln Dam, a $227 million hydroelectric project proposed on upper St. John River, is halted by the discovery of the Furbish lousewort, a plant believed to be extinct," offered The Rude Pundit.

Nearly a year ago, The Rude Pundit caught Coulter apparently lifting passages from various texts "without attribution" for a column on controversial examples of "speech that has been funded in whole or in part by taxpayers." Shortly after, a RAW STORY investigation turned up even more examples from that same column.

So, not only does Ann Coulter just make shit up, she's not even creative enough to make up her own shit; she has to steal it from someone else.

With apologies to one-celled acquatic life everywhere, the woman is pond-scum.